Blog Check-In 2006.09.04

I was away the whole weekend, starting on Friday morning. This is a quick update on our crazy weekend in Ottawa. I got a lot of things done and looking forward to moving away!

I spent too much time in my car this weekend. When I left on Friday morning for Ottawa, a 2h drive from Montreal, I was feeling freaked out. I was a bit overwhelmed. I finally made in time to the Taiwanese Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in downtown Ottawa, managed to find a parking spot, took the dog up with me and talked to the nice lady at the visa office only to find out that I had forgotten my passport at home! That’s what happens when you rush things. I was really pissed off. There was no way that I would have time to go back to Montreal and come back with the passport in time before the visa office closed, so I had to fall back on another plan.

So I took a drive, spent some time walking my dog. But it was pretty warm, so Spike got hot. Too hot, so I was sitting with him in the car with the fans on so he could cool down. After a few hours of this, I decided to drive to the airport to pick up the wife. Lo and behold, my car wouldn’t start! I had drained the battery! This was the first time that my Subie WRX STI actually broke down. I went knocking on a few doors with my dog in tow, thinking that people would have pity on my and Spike. I finally managed to find a guy with booster cables. He was very nice, helped me out and the car started.

So I went to the airport. I had just parked it when I found all these signs that said “no dogs allowed except guide dogs”. Damn! I talked with another dog owner who was outside the airport and he told me that dogs where not allowed, but it wouldn’t be too bad.

So I just took him in. I had 3 and a half hours before my wife’s flight came in from Vancouver! Another game of waiting around. So I sat myself in some couch, tried to hide the dog next to me and waited. I finally found out that dogs where allowed in the airport a few hours later.

My wife’s flight finally arrived.

Everybody was happy. But…

Her bags were missing.

We waited around for an hour and went to the claim baggage office for Air Canada. We found out that one of her bags, which was too big and being shipped in cargo freight, would arrive tomorrow. The other one seemed lost.

We left for our bed and breakfast in Merrickville. If I didn’t mention it, we were there for a wedding. My wife was taking the pictures for this wedding as a present for the bride and groom.

We checked in, had a good night and a good breakfast. The next day was a bit hectic. There was a wedding rehearsal that my wife had to be there. So we obliged. We wanted to drive back into Ottawa to finish up some errands, but didn’t have the time. So we tried to run the errands in the small town of Merrickville, 1500 population and the nearby town of Smith Falls, 9000 population.

We managed to get a crate for Spike, for his upcoming trans pacific flight, as well as a carry on back for him on the domestic flight to Vancouver.

The rehearsal went well.

We learnt that we had to go to a after-rehearsal party. But before, my wife who still only had one change of clothes because her bags were still not there, had to buy some essentials. We made it to Ottawa with about a half hour to spare before the shops closed. We then made our way to the airport to pick our one of my wife’s bags.

And then, drove to Orleans, a nearby suburb of Ottawa for the party. I was made aware that dogs were not allowed in that house. So I told my wife to make it quick so we could drive back to our hotel. The drive from Ottawa to Merrickville is about an hour.

After waiting for half an hour outside in the car with Spike, my wife came back out to get her tripod. She told be she’d be back out soon. I fell asleep and woke up an hour and a half later and she still wasn’t there. So I got the dog and went in to get her.

She had finished up with the pictures and was uploading them to the groom’s Macbook. She had made a deal with him to give him all the files without having to process and edit them herself.

I made some smalltalk and fed the dog with some of the party food. The hostess came by and told me that she was sorry that I had gotten the impression that dogs were not allowed, because she didn’t mind Spike one bit.

Spike was a hit at the party, everybody came up and petted him and a girl even wanted to kidnap him.

After an hour and half, I told my wife that we had got to go.

The drive back was terrible, I had barely slept the night before, and had to resort to slapping myself to stay awake. At the end of the drive, I was hallucinating. The drive was in the dark with a lot of rain, so that didn’t help one bit.

We finally got back and the wife was surprised to find her bags waiting for her at the door! She had left where she was staying and Air Canada and sent them on Saturday to her.

Sunday was the day of the wedding. The day before, Spike was left for a few hours in his cage in our room and had annoyed some guests. So we had to find a way to keep him quiet. I finally decided to put his cage right outside our room, next to the patio. He would still make noise, but at least the guests and staff wouldn’t have to hear him. I had to drive my wife to the spa where the bride was getting ready. It was raining. This was in Kanata, another suburb of Ottawa. We got there and I drove back to the hotel to rest a bit. I got back and promptly finished the book that I had started the day before, Abduction by Robin Cook.

I started to get ready at around 2:50, the wedding was at 3:30. I got ready and left for the church. My wife was already there and was taking preliminary pictures of the church.

Around 60 guests showed up, the ceremony had a few comical moments, like when the bride put the ring on the wrong hand of the groom. Then, I assited my wife in taking pictures and portraits of the guests and family. At around 5, the couple wanted to take some pictures in a pub. I stayed in the pub until 6:15 when the reception started. I wasn’t drinking anything, just talking with the groomsmen.

I then made my way to the reception. It was nice, the meal was ok, but the soup tasted like tzatziki, which is best served on a salad. I left before the deserts using the excuse that I had to check up on my dog. I was completely out of it. I said my goodbyes and left. It was around nine. I came back, Spike was fine. I then tried to read a bit, but was too tired. I fell asleep and got woken up by my wife returning at around 12:30 AM with a job well done.

We drove back this morning because we had a vet appointment for Spike to get all his stuff taken care off before we left for Taiwan. We just made the appointment and came home.